Other Blue Jays free agent contracts that were a disaster in year one

The 2022 campaign was a slog for Berrios, despite posting every five days and making his typical 30-plus starts in a season with no trips to the injured list. But his ERA ballooned up to 5.23 during his first full season with the Blue Jays in 2022, nearly two full runs higher than the year before. His 0.9 fWAR was the lowest of his career.

Berrios bounced back the next year to return to his career norms, but his 2022 was an outlier due to an elevated home run rate and he also led MLB in hits allowed and earned runs that year.

Ken Dayley – Year one fWAR: -0.1

Heading into the 1991 season, the Blue Jays needed some veteran relief help to round out the bullpen to help staples like Tom Henke and Duane Ward. The Blue Jays dipped into the free agent pool by inking left-hander Ken Dayley to a three-year, $6.3 million contract.

He pitched in only eight games during year one of his contract with the Blue Jays, posting a 6.23 ERA. He went on the IL mid-way through the season with what was initially listed as “dizziness”, but it was later revealed he was dealing with vertigo. Dayley missed the rest of the 1991 season and the entire 1992 campaign.

The Blue Jays released Dayley after he made two appearances to start the 1993 season, essentially eating the entire $6.3 million contract. It was a bit of a freak occurrence, but the return on investment was nil for the Blue Jays.

Yusei Kikuchi – Year One fWAR: -0.9

Considering how mightily some of the Blue Jays’ starting pitchers struggled in 2022, it was a small miracle they made the playoffs. In addition to Berrios tanking in year one of his contract, Japanese phenom Yusei Kikuchi also had a steep learning curve to deal with in his first year with the Blue Jays.

Kikuchi signed a three-year, $36 million contract with the Blue Jays in March 2022. Although he wasn’t projected to be a top-of-the-rotation starter, the Blue Jays expected Kikuchi to hold his own in the American League East. He did not.

As a starter, Kikuchi owned a 5.25 ERA through his first 20 games of the season. It got so bad that by mid-August 2022, he was removed from the starting rotation altogether and changed roles into a lefty reliever out of the bullpen, playing a mop-up role in low-leverage situations.

It took him a while to get there, but two years later, Kikuchi bounced back and threw some of the best games of his career in the first half of 2024. The left-hander’s impressive numbers netted the Blue Jays Joey Loperfido, Jake Bloss and Will Wagner in trade from the Houston Astros.

Maicer Izturis – Year one fWAR: -1.6

You can forgive Blue Jays fans who completely forgot Maicer Izturis not only played for the Jays, but that his signing happened before all the massive trades of the 2012 offseason with the Miami Marlins and New York Mets that brought the likes of Jose Reyes, Mark Buehrle and R.A. Dickey to Toronto.

Izturis signed a three-year, $10 million contract with the Blue Jays and slashed .236/.288/.310 in 107 games in 2013, good for -1.6 fWAR. It may have only been $3 million back then, but anytime a position player posts negative Wins Above Replacement, that’s a rough season.

As if things couldn’t get worse for Izturis, the following year, he tripped on some dugout steps, tore a knee ligament and missed the rest of the season. That was the last the Blue Jays saw of Izturis, who played only 118 games as a Blue Jay from 2013 to 2014.